Alan McLean

At last the trisuit came out in warm evening sunshine for the Pentlands Solstice Triathlon held at Threipmuir Reservoir on a Wednesday , as close to mid-summer as the organisers could arrange. I was the only Wheeler there, mid-week racing is difficult if you are working, and I only recognised a couple of other weegie types including Elizabeth Adams, a staunch WOSCA coach and racer.
 
Water was warmer this year which helped me for the 750m swim, then15k MTB round beautiful singletrack (trisuit plus clunky MTB = eeeugh) then 5k off road run in the summer evening sunshine.
 
I won the overall event by about a minute. Which was nice.
 
Alan

At last the trisuit came out in warm evening sunshine for the Pentlands Solstice Triathlon held at Threipmuir Reservoir on a Wednesday , as close to mid-summer as the organisers could arrange. I was the only Wheeler there, mid-week racing is difficult if you are working, and I only recognised a couple of other weegie types including Elizabeth Adams, a staunch WOSCA coach and racer.
 
Water was warmer this year which helped me for the 750m swim, then15k MTB round beautiful singletrack (trisuit plus clunky MTB = eeeugh) then 5k off road run in the summer evening sunshine.
 
I won the overall event by about a minute. Which was nice.
 
Alan

At last the trisuit came out in warm evening sunshine for the Pentlands Solstice Triathlon held at Threipmuir Reservoir on a Wednesday , as close to mid-summer as the organisers could arrange. I was the only Wheeler there, mid-week racing is difficult if you are working, and I only recognised a couple of other weegie types including Elizabeth Adams, a staunch WOSCA coach and racer.
 
Water was warmer this year which helped me for the 750m swim, then15k MTB round beautiful singletrack (trisuit plus clunky MTB = eeeugh) then 5k off road run in the summer evening sunshine.
 
I won the overall event by about a minute. Which was nice.
 
Alan

Rode round Glentress for 7 hours.
 
The place was rocking. 500 MTB racers plus usual Saturday riders. Big event village. Big PA system. Go-ape high in the trees, hill walkers, sunshine.
 
I can go uphill on a bike but descend like a roadie on mud so only managed 8 laps. Rumour has it the winner did 11.
 
Alan

Rode round Glentress for 7 hours.
 
The place was rocking. 500 MTB racers plus usual Saturday riders. Big event village. Big PA system. Go-ape high in the trees, hill walkers, sunshine.
 
I can go uphill on a bike but descend like a roadie on mud so only managed 8 laps. Rumour has it the winner did 11.
 
Alan

...Bradley Wiggins wearing a velvet Paul Smith suit while sipping a doppio espresso listening to 60's jazz on Bose headphones. Niiiiice....

HI Allan
 
If you just wish to lose weight then your cadence is irrelevant.
 
Faster cadence is more efficient for most people but as long as you are moving your legs you are losing weight.
 
Even an easy hour of riding will burn up around 500 calories.
 
Unless you are a real numbers guy I suggest the best use for your Garmin is to record lots of riding, especially on hills, and enjoy watching the mileage stack up.
 
It is a great little GPS and good fun to see your route later.
 
Register on Strava and have a go at some of the local segments. The weight will drop off and you will get fit.
 
If you try to stick in HR or cadence zones you will find it difficult to ride with others and you will drive them mental by asking them to speed up or slow down.
 
I have had a few cadence and HR meters and found them pretty pointless after the novelty wore off (twenty minutes).
 
 
Alan

It has been a miserable spring but I finally gave the JWCC trisuit an airing at this busy event with competitors from 7-70.
 
After a splash round the lazy river we covered four laps of an out and back 5k bike route, then a 5k warm down jog along the canal path.
 
The 90 degree corners and dead turns provided some hilarious examples of triathlete bike handling skills, maybe not so funny for folk pulling themselves out of ditches. (Actually it WAS quite funny to watch.) The strong crosswind almost gave me my own HEOTBHS while descending fast on aerobars and deep section wheels.
 
There are usually a few bike club rejects like myself at these triathloning events but this was a full-on trigeek affair and I did not see any of the usual roadie types.
 
There was a super atmosphere with lots of youth and junior racers and family racing. Big congratulations to our youth riders including Heather Fleming (skiving off exam leave) and Iona and Katrina Miller who were both second in their age groups, and Sarah Bradford who was track racing on Wed,won the Bella crit on Thursday, and won her race today :banana .
 
I got third vet but the gap between me and the real racers in their late teens and twenties is growing fast. The elastic is going to snap this year in my last season as a vet. I've spent ten years being crushed by unemployed students with unlimited training time and now I am going to get crushed by early retirees in their fifties with UTT. (Fortunately the NHS has promised to employ me until I'm 67 so I should get a few years of really focussed training in my early 70s).
 
Anyway the season has started, stay tuned for more gripping reports.
 
Alan

It has been a miserable spring but I finally gave the JWCC trisuit an airing at this busy event with competitors from 7-70.
 
After a splash round the lazy river we covered four laps of an out and back 5k bike route, then a 5k warm down jog along the canal path.
 
The 90 degree corners and dead turns provided some hilarious examples of triathlete bike handling skills, maybe not so funny for folk pulling themselves out of ditches. (Actually it WAS quite funny to watch.) The strong crosswind almost gave me my own HEOTBHS while descending fast on aerobars and deep section wheels.
 
There are usually a few bike club rejects like myself at these triathloning events but this was a full-on trigeek affair and I did not see any of the usual roadie types.
 
There was a super atmosphere with lots of youth and junior racers and family racing. Big congratulations to our youth riders including Heather Fleming (skiving off exam leave) and Iona and Katrina Miller who were both second in their age groups, and Sarah Bradford who was track racing on Wed,won the Bella crit on Thursday, and won her race today :banana .
 
I got third vet but the gap between me and the real racers in their late teens and twenties is growing fast. The elastic is going to snap this year in my last season as a vet. I've spent ten years being crushed by unemployed students with unlimited training time and now I am going to get crushed by early retirees in their fifties with UTT. (Fortunately the NHS has promised to employ me until I'm 67 so I should get a few years of really focussed training in my early 70s).
 
Anyway the season has started, stay tuned for more gripping reports.
 
Alan

It has been a miserable spring but I finally gave the JWCC trisuit an airing at this busy event with competitors from 7-70.
 
After a splash round the lazy river we covered four laps of an out and back 5k bike route, then a 5k warm down jog along the canal path.
 
The 90 degree corners and dead turns provided some hilarious examples of triathlete bike handling skills, maybe not so funny for folk pulling themselves out of ditches. (Actually it WAS quite funny to watch.) The strong crosswind almost gave me my own HEOTBHS while descending fast on aerobars and deep section wheels.
 
There are usually a few bike club rejects like myself at these triathloning events but this was a full-on trigeek affair and I did not see any of the usual roadie types.
 
There was a super atmosphere with lots of youth and junior racers and family racing. Big congratulations to our youth riders including Heather Fleming (skiving off exam leave) and Iona and Katrina Miller who were both second in their age groups, and Sarah Bradford who was track racing on Wed,won the Bella crit on Thursday, and won her race today :banana .
 
I got third vet but the gap between me and the real racers in their late teens and twenties is growing fast. The elastic is going to snap this year in my last season as a vet. I've spent ten years being crushed by unemployed students with unlimited training time and now I am going to get crushed by early retirees in their fifties with UTT. (Fortunately the NHS has promised to employ me until I'm 67 so I should get a few years of really focussed training in my early 70s).
 
Anyway the season has started, stay tuned for more gripping reports.
 
Alan

It has been a miserable spring but I finally gave the JWCC trisuit an airing at this busy event with competitors from 7-70.
 
After a splash round the lazy river we covered four laps of an out and back 5k bike route, then a 5k warm down jog along the canal path.
 
The 90 degree corners and dead turns provided some hilarious examples of triathlete bike handling skills, maybe not so funny for folk pulling themselves out of ditches. (Actually it WAS quite funny to watch.) The strong crosswind almost gave me my own HEOTBHS while descending fast on aerobars and deep section wheels.
 
There are usually a few bike club rejects like myself at these triathloning events but this was a full-on trigeek affair and I did not see any of the usual roadie types.
 
There was a super atmosphere with lots of youth and junior racers and family racing. Big congratulations to our youth riders including Heather Fleming (skiving off exam leave) and Iona and Katrina Miller who were both second in their age groups, and Sarah Bradford who was track racing on Wed,won the Bella crit on Thursday, and won her race today :banana .
 
I got third vet but the gap between me and the real racers in their late teens and twenties is growing fast. The elastic is going to snap this year in my last season as a vet. I've spent ten years being crushed by unemployed students with unlimited training time and now I am going to get crushed by early retirees in their fifties with UTT. (Fortunately the NHS has promised to employ me until I'm 67 so I should get a few years of really focussed training in my early 70s).
 
Anyway the season has started, stay tuned for more gripping reports.
 
Alan

It has been a miserable spring but I finally gave the JWCC trisuit an airing at this busy event with competitors from 7-70.
 
After a splash round the lazy river we covered four laps of an out and back 5k bike route, then a 5k warm down jog along the canal path.
 
The 90 degree corners and dead turns provided some hilarious examples of triathlete bike handling skills, maybe not so funny for folk pulling themselves out of ditches. (Actually it WAS quite funny to watch.) The strong crosswind almost gave me my own HEOTBHS while descending fast on aerobars and deep section wheels.
 
There are usually a few bike club rejects like myself at these triathloning events but this was a full-on trigeek affair and I did not see any of the usual roadie types.
 
There was a super atmosphere with lots of youth and junior racers and family racing. Big congratulations to our youth riders including Heather Fleming (skiving off exam leave) and Iona and Katrina Miller who were both second in their age groups, and Sarah Bradford who was track racing on Wed,won the Bella crit on Thursday, and won her race today :banana .
 
I got third vet but the gap between me and the real racers in their late teens and twenties is growing fast. The elastic is going to snap this year in my last season as a vet. I've spent ten years being crushed by unemployed students with unlimited training time and now I am going to get crushed by early retirees in their fifties with UTT. (Fortunately the NHS has promised to employ me until I'm 67 so I should get a few years of really focussed training in my early 70s).
 
Anyway the season has started, stay tuned for more gripping reports.
 
Alan

It has been a miserable spring but I finally gave the JWCC trisuit an airing at this busy event with competitors from 7-70.
 
After a splash round the lazy river we covered four laps of an out and back 5k bike route, then a 5k warm down jog along the canal path.
 
The 90 degree corners and dead turns provided some hilarious examples of triathlete bike handling skills, maybe not so funny for folk pulling themselves out of ditches. (Actually it WAS quite funny to watch.) The strong crosswind almost gave me my own HEOTBHS while descending fast on aerobars and deep section wheels.
 
There are usually a few bike club rejects like myself at these triathloning events but this was a full-on trigeek affair and I did not see any of the usual roadie types.
 
There was a super atmosphere with lots of youth and junior racers and family racing. Big congratulations to our youth riders including Heather Fleming (skiving off exam leave) and Iona and Katrina Miller who were both second in their age groups, and Sarah Bradford who was track racing on Wed,won the Bella crit on Thursday, and won her race today :banana .
 
I got third vet but the gap between me and the real racers in their late teens and twenties is growing fast. The elastic is going to snap this year in my last season as a vet. I've spent ten years being crushed by unemployed students with unlimited training time and now I am going to get crushed by early retirees in their fifties with UTT. (Fortunately the NHS has promised to employ me until I'm 67 so I should get a few years of really focussed training in my early 70s).
 
Anyway the season has started, stay tuned for more gripping reports.
 
Alan

Nice long route, as approved by Ramsay and I, is Pollensa-Lluc-Puig Major-Soller-Bunyola-Orient-Alaro-Selva-Campanet-Pollensa.
 
140k, 2500m of climbing,
 
This is a beautiful ride with four proper cols. It climbs to 880m before a breathtaking descent into Soller at almost sea level.
 
There is a short section on the main road out of Soller before a big tunnel where bikes are diverted onto switchbacks through orange groves to cross the Col de Soller.
 
Another great descent before entering Bunyola, watch for sharp but signposted left turn in Bunyola village to "Alaro/Orient" to go back into the hills.
 
The Orient valley is stunning and after another col it is pretty much downhill for the last thirty k home. There is a lovely quiet back road from Campanet. Paul could do it twice to keep the mileage up.
 
Excellent cafe at summit of Col de Soller.
 
.+1 Ramsay's advice to get bike map from shop. They are waterproof and the good bike roads with less traffic are marked in green. They save a lot of unnecessary time on busy roads.
 
 
Alan

Just to give you guys something to aim for:
 
http://app.strava.com/activities/48776245#856712414

OK. Slight exaggeration.
 
But early Facebook reports suggest that our riders inc. Lewis Mulholland performed brilliantly at the UK sprintfest in Manchester last weekend.
 
Looking forward to full report from Lewis please.
:banana
 
Alan

Yes it was a Joansin bunch braving the rain today with the kooryers elsewhere training for the TT on Sunday.
 
11 became 9 became 6 became 4 as we headed round to West Kilbride where Paul stamped on the gas.
 
Rain, wind, mist, mud: it's all good training for switching on Eurosport, cracking a Leffe and shouting at Tom in a few weeks time.
 
Alan

ng

Hand-delivered race license!! Thank you very much Jann!! :banana

Hi Jann
 
Thanks for all the hard work.
 
My OP looks a bit petulant now, apologies.
 
Could you pop down from the Port and hand deliver it please ASAP? And bring a pint of milk?
 
Alan

Be at least a Youth B (age 12) and get advice from club coaches if you are starting as a youth.
 
Get track accreditation. See elsewhere on forum and Braveheart for hints how to get this quickly. This is a compulsory six hour programme to ensure a minimum safe standard.
 
If you can pass accreditation and hang on behind a 50kph derny you can race
 
Get a British Cycling race licence, around thirty to seventy quid depending on add-ons.
 
You must have a BC licence, the coms (referees) are checking this at the track
 
Apply online through the BC website with your BC race licence number and credit card (£10 for senior, £5 for younger riders) by 1800 on the Sunday before.
 
Apply to enter Group D. Although this is nominally the "starting group" the organisers mix up the groups a fair bit so there are some pretty experienced riders in it.
 
Arrive at track by six to sign on. You can hire a bike for the evening for £10-£15. If you arrive by six this gives you time to sign on, change and warm up for 20 minutes. Last sign on is 1840 so you can still get there from work.
 
Find the JWCC group in track centre and set up rollers if you have them.
 
Racing starts at 7. There are currently five groups, A,B,C,D,Youth with four races each so you may have 20 mins between races. Youths race early and finish by 2030ish. Seniors finish about 2150.
 
Check the program and get to the starting gate 5 minutes early for your race.
 
Follow the coms instructions. Drink water. Have fun. Cheer clubmates.
 
Post a report.
 
 
Alan

Be at least a Youth B (age 12) and get advice from club coaches if you are starting as a youth.
 
Get track accreditation. See elsewhere on forum and Braveheart for hints how to get this quickly. This is a compulsory six hour programme to ensure a minimum safe standard.
 
If you can pass accreditation and hang on behind a 50kph derny you can race
 
Get a British Cycling race licence, around thirty to seventy quid depending on add-ons.
 
You must have a BC licence, the coms (referees) are checking this at the track
 
Apply online through the BC website with your BC race licence number and credit card (£10 for senior, £5 for younger riders) by 1800 on the Sunday before.
 
Apply to enter Group D. Although this is nominally the "starting group" the organisers mix up the groups a fair bit so there are some pretty experienced riders in it.
 
Arrive at track by six to sign on. You can hire a bike for the evening for £10-£15. If you arrive by six this gives you time to sign on, change and warm up for 20 minutes. Last sign on is 1840 so you can still get there from work.
 
Find the JWCC group in track centre and set up rollers if you have them.
 
Racing starts at 7. There are currently five groups, A,B,C,D,Youth with four races each so you may have 20 mins between races. Youths race early and finish by 2030ish. Seniors finish about 2150.
 
Check the program and get to the starting gate 5 minutes early for your race.
 
Follow the coms instructions. Drink water. Have fun. Cheer clubmates.
 
Post a report.
 
 
Alan

Be at least a Youth B (age 12) and get advice from club coaches if you are starting as a youth.
 
Get track accreditation. See elsewhere on forum and Braveheart for hints how to get this quickly. This is a compulsory six hour programme to ensure a minimum safe standard.
 
If you can pass accreditation and hang on behind a 50kph derny you can race
 
Get a British Cycling race licence, around thirty to seventy quid depending on add-ons.
 
You must have a BC licence, the coms (referees) are checking this at the track
 
Apply online through the BC website with your BC race licence number and credit card (£10 for senior, £5 for younger riders) by 1800 on the Sunday before.
 
Apply to enter Group D. Although this is nominally the "starting group" the organisers mix up the groups a fair bit so there are some pretty experienced riders in it.
 
Arrive at track by six to sign on. You can hire a bike for the evening for £10-£15. If you arrive by six this gives you time to sign on, change and warm up for 20 minutes. Last sign on is 1840 so you can still get there from work.
 
Find the JWCC group in track centre and set up rollers if you have them.
 
Racing starts at 7. There are currently five groups, A,B,C,D,Youth with four races each so you may have 20 mins between races. Youths race early and finish by 2030ish. Seniors finish about 2150.
 
Check the program and get to the starting gate 5 minutes early for your race.
 
Follow the coms instructions. Drink water. Have fun. Cheer clubmates.
 
Post a report.
 
 
Alan

I think we had eight riders in total today. Senior ranks were reduced to George and Billy who were both in at the kill in their races but we had a much better turnout in the youths with six riders.
 
Lewis was working hard at the sharp end in the senior B group again and the other five were in the Youth only races where they were riding very fast and much neater than the seniors.
 
All our young riders were right in the bunch throughout their races. Good attacks from Euan, Danny and Sarah at the sharp end and Katie and Alana were only a wheel short of the best riders. Euan learnt how to tighten his seat post .
 
The club coaches were pretty pleased to see five Jets in the last seven of the devil .
 
One year ago I reckon we would have seen riders pinging off the back every few seconds but our young riders are now holding their own with the best around. Just need 1% more!
 
I joined the trolls in track centre and had a great time.
 
Alan

Results now on BC website.
 
I was a little unfair to Danny who did get two third places! But we all know he can do more!